• Bram Meehan puts this year's two major Bill Mauldin releases, our collection Willie & Joe: The WWII Years and Todd DePastino's biography A Life Up Front, in a shared #10 position on his "Top Ten Comics of 2008" (via TCR)

In any weather conditions, Fantagraphics Bookstore & Gallery will be open every day until Christmas to fill your frantic gift list. We close at 5:00 PM on Christmas Eve and remain closed on Christmas day. The store will also be open between Christmas and New Year's, closing at 5:00 PM on New Year's Eve and the following New Year's Day.

Drop by and see our stunning BEASTS exhibition and the equally exquisite BEASTS BOOK 2, as well dozens of delightful new titles from the publisher of the world's greatest cartoonists. 1201 S. Vale St., Seattle. (206) 658-0110.

There are a lot of great prints in the current Fantagraphics BEASTS! print show but I have to give a special nod to the craftsmanship of S.britt's Gocco print of the troll. I haven't used Gocco but I know that this kind of registration is hell to achieve. ...And, of course, it's just charming as all get out.

Meanwhile Aya Kakeda created a nice effect by using charcoal over the top of her screenprint. Tom Neely watercolored his letterpress print. Keith Warren Greiman was awesome to do a small 2-color screenprint that sells for 5 bucks, making it affordable for most anyone. Just a lot of cool work going on. More on the Beasts blog.

Are you familiar with "Stinckers"? Vending machine stickers made by Weissman, Johnny Ryan, Jeff Roysdon, and the man known as Mats!? Check out the website for all the great art and incidentals. I just had to post this new work of Mats!? that he's making with a mouse, no ink. Really smart use of 2 color.

Ted Stearn'sFuzz and Pluck: SplitsvilleJoin us for drinks this Friday the 19th at 8pm

Fuzz & Pluck: Splitsville tells the hilariously bizarre adventures of Pluck, an irritable and featherless rooster, and his best pal, the awkwardly unsocialized but lovable teddy bear known as Fuzz. These two usually inseparable and co-dependent misfits find themselves suddenly separated and alone. Pluck vows to establish his place in the world's pecking order by becoming a champion gladiator, while the more demure Fuzz finds himself a POW in a stuffed animal collection, only to escape and befriend a mercurial ferryman who recruits him for an impossible task. These absurdities pile on and eventually converge in a fatal collision course that reunites our heroes.

Fuzz & Pluck is an odd, and unusually original graphic novel, a "funny animal" comic that is surprisingly human. Rich with pathos, wit, farce, existentialism and drama, often cruel, always funny, this superficially ridiculous struggle for survival is an Alice in Wonderland for grown-ups that reaches absurdly delightful heights. As Simpsons creator Matt Groening says, "This epic tale of a hapless li'l bear and his defeathered friend is why I love comics. All hail the peculiar Fuzz & Pluck and their creator, Ted Stearn!"

If you want your order to arrive before Christmas, tomorrow (Friday, December 19) is the FINAL day to get your order in and you MUST select the 2nd Day UPS shipping option! Hop to it! Our handy Holiday Gift Guide will help you find lots of gift ideas for every interest and budget!